How a ‘mistake’ by Oracle engineers caused software outage in US hospitals

▤ Summary

We are proud of our clinical and support teams who worked through the multi-day outage with professionalism and a commitment to delivering high-quality, safe care for patients.” Oracle engineers mistakenly triggered a five‐day software outage at multiple Community Health Systems (CHS) hospitals. The incident started last week, when routine maintenance work led engineers to accidentally delete critical storage tied to a core database. The chain relies on Oracle Health’s EHR platform for digital patient records, scheduling, and clinical workflows. Oracle cemented its position in the EHR market by acquiring Cerner for $28.3 billion in 2022, making it the second-largest provider after Epic Systems.In a statement to CNBC, a CHS spokesperson said:With Oracle’s systems now restored, CHS added that the affected hospitals are working to fully reinstate functionality and resume standard operations and procedures.This CHS incident comes just weeks after Oracle’s federal EHR platform suffered a nationwide outage. The company has also grappled with a protracted, problem-plagued deployment of its EHR system at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where patient safety concerns prompted the VA to launch a strategic review of Cerner in 2021 (before Oracle’s acquisition) and to temporarily halt the software’s rollout in 2023.

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